Prestwich: Festwich organisers criticised over state of park

St Mary’s Park on St Ann’s Road has been compared to a swamp following the annual Festwich event two weeks ago.

The festival, one of the largest tribute festivals in the UK, took place at the park from Saturday, July 29 to Sunday, July 30.

Following the event, a combination of extremely wet weather and high footfall at the park has left grass and pathways covered in mud.

Darren Laskier, 57, who walks his dog every morning in the park says residents have been left frustrated with the condition it has been left in this year.

Residents say the park has been left like a swamp after an annual music festival coincided with heavy rainfall (Image: Darren Laskier)

He said: “Festwich happens every year, it's not a problem but this year the park has been left like a swamp.

“Where the stages and trucks were, it's been left stinking and muddy.”

Darren said the state of the park is even more frustrating as the space is also closed to park-goers for two weeks as organisers set up and dismantle the stages.

He added: “We all haven’t been able to use it for two weeks for Festwich, now it is just unusable.”

Muddy grass at St Mary's Park has left residents unable to enjoy it (Image: Darren Laskier)

Darren, who runs a staff training business, said he decided to contact the council about the mud after he almost “went flying” after slipping in the mud.

Although he was satisfied with the response from the council, he said he would like to see organisers of the popular event do more in the future to protect the grass for public use.

St Mary's Park pictured last year as it normally looks (Image: Cllr Alan Quinn)

"Festwich has been going on for years and this month had exceptional weather but this is not going to be unusual going forward and we need to be ready for this.

“They need to leave the park in the condition it was in before they got there.”

In response, festival organiser Jools Taylor says he and his team have "every intention" of restoring the park once it is dry enough to begin working on it.

The popular event takes place in St Mary's Park, Prestwich every year

He said: "We have every intention of reinstating the park back to its glory.

"Its started to dry up now so we can start to proceed with our schedule."

He added that restoring the park will involve levelling out the ground and planting new grass seed. 

Mr Taylor added: "Its not something that's going to take months, we're on the case with it, we've not just disappeared, we take full responsibility of getting it back."